


ghosts on the shore

by dearly



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Universe, Deviates From Canon, F/M, Fix-It, Hurt/Comfort, Planet Naboo (Star Wars), Post-Canon, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Redeemed Ben Solo, Sharing a Bed, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:47:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22605706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearly/pseuds/dearly
Summary: “I meant what I said to you that day on the Death Star. I thought I could never go back. I still think it even now—that I don’t belong here, that I never will.”“But you did come back,” she said, squeezing his hand. “You’re here now. With me. Youchoseit. Despite everything, we made it, both of us.”They sat in silence for awhile, hands clasped while they watched the camp clear as people finally turned in for the night.Then, suddenly, Ben was struck with an idea. “What if we took a trip?”
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 51
Collections: For one is both and both are one in love: The Reylo Fanfiction Anthology's Valentine's Day Exchange





	ghosts on the shore

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aaronBursar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aaronBursar/gifts).



> Inspired by this prompt: _In the wake of the war, the public finds out that Rey is Palpatine's granddaughter, and the fallout is similar to when Leia was revealed as Vader's daughter. Ben and Rey must grapple with what it means to come from a dark legacy, how it does and doesn't define you, and how to start over as teachers of the Force._
> 
> Title from [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QthMaFm6-g).

The jungle came alive at night with the droning chorus of the nocturnal creatures that stirred with the rising moons. Rey trudged carefully through the thick foliage, thankful, as the cool breeze hit her bare arms, that at least the oppressive humidity had subsided with the darkening sky.

She came to a clearing in the jarwal trees and sat on a low hanging branch nestled amongst the ferns on the hill that overlooked the camp. A few late-night stragglers still sat around the dying embers of the campfire draining the last dregs of their Altoonian ale as they swapped stories. It’d been a couple weeks since the end of the war and though the loud revelry and celebrations had wound down, the good spirits—including those of the alcoholic variety—lingered on.

In the last few days, their numbers at the Ajan Kloss base had dwindled by half as people returned to their homeworlds to visit friends and family they hadn’t seen in a year or more. Most of the command, including Poe, Finn, and Rose, remained to assist with packing up equipment and coordinating communications for setting up meetings that would establish the governing of the galaxy moving forward.

Rey helped where she could, mostly repairing ships or droids or other mechanical work, but when it came to thinking about the future of the galaxy, she kept her distance. At the moment, she could barely allow herself to think about her own future, not when—

 _Sith...Palpatine_... _granddaughter._

She’d heard the whispers around camp immediately after she’d returned to base. How the news had spread so quickly, whether by intercepted transmissions or recovered First Order intelligence, she didn’t know. It didn’t really matter. The secret would’ve come out eventually, though she’d hoped for a little more time to reflect on everything that had happened before announcing her lineage to the entire galaxy. Since it had quickly become clear that no one was going to say it to her face, she’d confirmed it one night around the campfire in front of the whole Resistance. _It’s true, all of it._

Finn and Rose had comforted her with hugs and Poe assured her with a friendly slap on the back that it didn’t change anything. _But_ , she’d thought, pasting a smile on her face as she’d looked around at the faces that suddenly seemed like strangers, _how could it not?_

She’d gone from being a nobody from a forgotten planet to being the descendent of pure evil.

A movement in the ferns snapped her out of her reverie.

Ben stood behind her in a pair of borrowed pajamas that stretched tight across his chest, a folded blanket in his arms.

Wordlessly, he wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and sat down beside her. 

“Thanks,” she said, turning to study him in the moonlight. The weight he’d lost while recovering made his face more angular and even in the dim light she could make out the dark circles under his eyes. “Sorry if I woke you.”

“It’s fine,” he said, shaking his head. “I wasn’t sleeping anyway.” His eyes darted nervously over her face revealing that his concerns were focused solely on her.

She thought back to that first day when the war had ended, when instead of greeting her friends in joyful celebration, she’d arrived back at the base frantic with the former Supreme Leader clinging to life beside her.

Most of the Resistance hadn’t even tried to hide their disgust, Poe being chief among them. Though they hadn’t said the word out loud, she’d wondered if they thought her a traitor. Rose, surprisingly, had taken the lead, yelling for the medic and barking orders as she helped Rey maneuver Ben off the ship.

The first few days had been touch and go. Ben had sustained a lengthy list of injuries: a severe concussion, broken ribs and collarbone, a fractured ankle, and more cuts and bruises then she could count. But with bacta and lots of rest, he’d mended considerably, though he was far from a complete recovery.

As the days and weeks wore on, people mostly kept their distance from him, and Ben seemed fine with that. The only person he’d made a connection with was Rose, who’d been with Rey when he’d first woken up and had ended up spending many hours at his bedside. After he’d healed enough from his injuries to move around on his own, Rey had set up a shelter for him at the edge of the camp and fearing that he might take a turn for the worse at any given moment, she had practically moved in with him.

“Rey?” His voice broke through the memory and she realized that she’d drifted off again. “What is it?”

“I’ve just been thinking about what comes next, after all this,” she said, waving vaguely at their surroundings. “Where do I go from here now that everyone knows where I come from? What I am?” 

She refrained from saying the name still. It tasted like acid on her tongue.

Ben moved closer, the branch creaking under his weight as leaned in. His hand found hers under the blanket, wrapping her cold fingers in his warmth.

“I understand,” is all he said. He didn’t offer her assurances that everything would be okay, that people would accept her no matter what and the simple acknowledgement of what she was feeling meant more than any attempt at consolation.

If anyone understood her situation it was Ben, a fellow grandchild of the galaxy’s evil, who’d had to carry the burden of his family’s legacy—with all its achievements and failures—his whole life.

“I’ve asked that question myself every day,” he continued. “I meant what I said to you that day on the Death Star. I thought I could never go back. I still think it even now—that I don’t belong here, that I never will.”

“But you did come back,” she said, squeezing his hand. “You’re here now. With me. You _chose_ it. Despite everything, we made it, both of us.”

They sat in silence for awhile, hands clasped while they watched the camp clear as people finally turned in for the night.

Then, suddenly, Ben was struck with an idea. “What if we took a trip?”

Rey questioned him with a look and he continued, the words coming out in a rush from a sudden burst of energy. “There’s a place that connects us, a place I’ve never been to but have always dreamed of, the homeworld of our grandparents: Naboo.”

***

Their course for Naboo was set by midday.

Rose hugged Rey as she peppered her with questions that Rey couldn’t answer, but she assured Rose that she would keep them all updated throughout their journey. Finn and Poe tried to talk Rey out of the trip, but she had already made her decision when Ben had first suggested the idea. Calmly, she explained that in order to find herself and make peace with everything that had happened, she needed to leave and hoped they would understand one day.

Ben was already fiddling with the controls when she entered the Falcon’s cockpit after making her final goodbyes. 

It was the first time since they’d fought side-by-side that she’d seen him with a task to accomplish and the eagerness lighting up his face gave her the first spark of joy she’d felt since learning that Ben was going to survive his injuries.

“We’re fueled up and the coordinates are plugged in,” he said as she sat in the seat beside him. “We’re ready to go whenever you are.”

“Are _you_ ready, Ben?” she asked.

He paused and nodded. The crease of worry on his brow had relaxed and he looked like the young boy she’d imagined he’d once been on this very ship, the Ben Solo who had hopes and dreams.

“As my father used to say: punch it.”

***

They arrived at their destination under the cover of darkness. Though it was likely the galaxy thought the former Supreme Leader was dead along with the rest of the First Order, Ben was hesitant to make himself too visible just yet.

He had chosen this spot, a small resort village on the edge of the lake, based on stories Leia had told him as a child. The beautiful, lush oasis was where Padmé Amidala, Ben’s grandmother and the once queen and later senator of Naboo, had lived. 

Leia had learned a little about her birth mother from her adoptive father, Bail Organa, who had worked with Padmé in the Galactic Senate. But it wasn’t until she was a senator herself and received the message that Bail had made for her right before his death, that Leia had really learned the true story about the mother she had never known. When the truth about Leia’s connection to Darth Vader had spread throughout the galaxy, Ben had been training with Luke and as he told this to Rey, she saw him flinch as he recalled the painful memory.

But it wasn’t just Padmé, the idyllic world was the home of Palpatine too. Naboo was as much a part of Rey’s legacy as it was Ben’s.

They landed at a small docking station and found a hotel at the end of a quiet street that overlooked the lake. A man sitting at the counter grunted at them in greeting, giving no indication of recognition, and merely tossed a keycard down when Rey asked for a room.

After roughing it for weeks in the jungle, they collapsed immediately onto the soft bed and were both asleep within minutes.

Rey woke bathed in the glow of the dawning day with Ben curled around her, his body solid and warm against hers, his slow steady breathing comforting her. She watched the walls of the room change colors, from pinks to oranges, as it slowly filled with light. 

Carefully, she rose from the bed so as to not wake Ben, and stepped out onto the balcony to take in the morning view. The second-floor room looked out over a garden of colorful flowers that wrapped around the side of the building with the lake shining a few steps away. The soft light shimmered on the water as it lapped onto the shore. A pair of fishermen were chatting in low voices as they loaded up their boats with supplies for the day’s catch. 

She sat in one of the low deck chairs and closed her eyes, listening to the birds chirping in a nearby tree as the sun warmed her skin. She’d seen little of the planet, but she already felt its peace.

She must have drifted to sleep, because when she opened her eyes, the sun had fully risen, shining high in the sky, and several boats dotted the lake’s surface. Ben stepped out onto the balcony somehow having procured a pot of caf and two cups. Perhaps she’d misjudged the hotel and the gruff greeting they’d received. Hospitality was still a foreign concept to her, and she knew she still had a long way to go when it came to trusting strangers.

Ben poured them each a cup and sat in the other chair. The hot caffeinated drink invigorated Rey, jolting her senses awake, and she breathed out a contented sigh.

“I don’t think I’ve slept that well in...I don’t know how long,” Ben said, leaning back and angling his face towards the sun.

“There’s something about this place,” she agreed, nodding, then added with a cheeky grin, “or maybe I have something to do with that.”

Ben looked at her, eyes squinting in the sun as the corners of his mouth turned up in a smile matching her own. “Maybe.” 

Setting down the caf, she vaulted herself over the side of the chair and into his, straddling his legs before settling in his lap. They hadn’t kissed since that day on Exegol. The pain of almost losing him had still felt too raw and a part of her still worried that she could have been the cause of his death. But now, staring at his flushed cheeks and the lazy smile creeping across his face, she couldn’t resist any longer. She wanted him, every part of him. The Force thrummed with both of their repressed desires.

Holding his face in her hands, she traced the lines of his cheeks, his nose, his lips, memorizing each freckle, each wrinkle, before at last she brought her lips to his. Though he’d always shown the utmost patience with her, letting her take the lead, judging from the heartbeat racing against her palms he was just as eager for her touch. His hands wrapped around her and spread flat across her back before they dipped down to her waist, pulling her closer. He groaned against her mouth as the kiss deepened and their bodies melded.

They lost track of time, of all senses that did not involve their two bodies being pressed together. It was only her need to breathe that finally caused her to pull away first.

“I’ve been thinking,” Rey said, breathing heavily as she flattened her palms against his chest. 

He shifted beneath her at the break in contact, a soft, dazed look in his eyes. Taking a moment to refocus, he gently brushed the stray strands of hair that had fallen in her face. “Hm?”

“I’d like to stay here, to travel around and explore this planet for awhile. What do you think?”

“I think,” he said, taking her hand between his and pressing a soft kiss to it, “I just want to be with you, Rey, here or wherever that may be.”

As her heart thundered loudly in her ears, she pressed a quick succession of grateful kisses across his face and laughed into his neck when he scooped her up and carried her bridal style back inside their room.

***

A soft breeze blew through the meadow of ryoo flowers bathing Rey and Ben in their sweet scent as they walked hand-in-hand through the grassy hills of the Lake Country. It must have been peak tourist season because they passed several other travelers who were out enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits, greeting them with smiles and friendly hellos. Rey wondered if it was the temperate climate that kept the Naboo people in a good mood.

As they descended the hill, passing a field of grazing shaaks, they came upon a family, a mother and two young children, having a picnic by a stream. The youngest child, a boy about five or six years old, upon seeing them immediately ran towards them.

“Hi,” he blurted out, keeping his hands clasped behind him. “I’m Garik.” He turned to look back at his mother and she nodded at her son encouragingly.

Ben knelt so that he was at the child’s eye level. Rey’s heart swelled at this simple gesture. “I’m Ben and this is Rey.”

“Can I give you something?” Garik said, looking a touch more shy now as he looked down to study his shoes.

Ben nodded and the boy revealed the bunch of wildflowers he’d been keeping hidden and handed them to Ben.

They both thanked him and Garik managed a quick goodbye before running back to his mother, to whom Rey gave a friendly wave as they continued on.

Ben handed Rey the flowers and once they were alone, she hugged him in a fierce grip, as the tears she’d been holding back welled in her eyes.

“You’re good with kids.” It wasn’t the first time they’d come in contact with children during their travels and each time she was surprised by his patient and gentle manner.

He shrugged and his hand found hers again. “I think there’s a part of me that’s protective of them, because of what I went through at that age. And that in some small way maybe I can undo some of the damage I’ve caused by helping the next generation.”

Though they’d tried not to focus too much on their future plans, preferring to live each day as it came, the topic was becoming unavoidable. Once Rey had suggested an idea for starting a school for orphans and Ben’s face had lit up as they’d thrown out suggestions for good locations. They’d even made it as far as debating the subjects that should be taught.

Whatever lay ahead of them, Rey knew that she had made the right choice, choosing Ben, sharing her life with him as they travelled this planet and soon the rest of the galaxy together. 

As far as the galaxy knew, the former Supreme Leader was dead having been officially declared so by the new republic. She was pretty sure she had one of her friends to thank for it though they hadn’t brought it up in any of their communications.

The war was over and their futures were wide open.

And she was ready.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! <3
> 
> You can find me mostly on twitter these days [@thiscaringlark](https://twitter.com/thiscaringlark) and occasionally on tumblr [@cosmicforces](https://cosmicforces.tumblr.com/). Feel free to say hi!


End file.
